Analysis of How Did You Rest, Last Night?
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
'How did you rest, last night?'--
I've heard my gran'pap say
Them words a thousand times--that's right--
Jes them words thataway!
As punctchul-like as morning dast
To ever heave in sight
Gran'pap 'ud allus haf to ast--
'How did you rest, last night?'
Us young-uns used to grin,
At breakfast, on the sly,
And mock the wobble of his chin
And eyebrows belt so high
And kind: _'How did you rest, last night?'_
We'd mumble and let on
Our voices trimbled, and our sight
Was dim, and hearin' gone.
* * * * *
Bad as I used to be,
All I'm a-wantin' is
As puore and ca'm a sleep fer me
And sweet a sleep as his!
And so I pray, on Jedgment Day
To wake, and with its light
See _his_ face dawn, and hear him say--
'How did you rest, last night?'
Scheme | AbaxaaxA cdcdaxax efefbabA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111 111111 11010111 1111 1111101 110101 1111111 111111 111111 110101 01010111 01111 01111111 110011 101010101 110101 1 111111 11011 110110111 010111 0111111 110111 11110111 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 716 |
Words | 151 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 1, 8 |
Lines Amount | 25 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 133 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 36 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 47 sec read
- 64 Views
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"How Did You Rest, Last Night?" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20911/how-did-you-rest%2C-last-night%3F>.
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